Vapor-oil heater



Dec. 3, 1929. H. BIRCH VAPOR OIL HEATER 1 Filed May 6, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 t l I l l l Dec. 3, 1929. J. H. BIRCH VAPOR OIL HEATER 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

Filed May 6, 1926 Patented Dec. 3, 1929 PATENT OFFICE JAMES H. BIRCH, OF GENEVA, ILLINOIS VAPOR-OIL HEATER Application filed May 6, 1926. Serial No. 107,038.

The present invention has to do with heaters of the type adapted toeffect combustion of fuel oil in the fire-boxes of domestic heating plants.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an improved heater of the type described which is inexpensive to construct and install, is economical to operate, requires practically no attention, is composed of but a few simple and readily accessible parts, develops the full heat content of the oil by efficient combustion of the same, and employs water Vapor in combination with the oil vapor to increase the heat obtainable from the Oil.

Other objects and advantages will be evident to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction, arrangement and operation of a heater embodying 2 the invention.

Such a heater is herein illustrated and described, but it will, of course, be appreciated that the invention is susceptible of embodiment in various other structural forms coming equally within the comprehensive scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken vertically through the heater;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the heater;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the burner;

Fig. 4. is a sectional view taken in perspective through the spreader cap;

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken through the pressure-sealing cup;

Fig. 6 is a similar view taken through the burner;

Fig. 7 is a similar view taken throughthe drip pan;

Fig. 8 is a similar view taken through the burner support;

Fig. 9 is a similar view taken through the base plate; and

Fig. 10 is a sectional view, corresponding to Fig. 1, but showing a slightly modified form of the heater.

The heater illustrated in the drawings includes a burner 10 which is adapted to be installed in the fire-box of a domestic heating plant. The burner is provided with an oil chamber 11, and with a perforated air-intake web 12 which extends outwardly from the chamber and terminates in a rim 13.

A disc-like spreader cap 14: is mounted on the burner 10 over the chamber 11, and the contacting surfaces of the cap and burner present therebetween a ground joint 15. The cap extends outwardly a substantial distance beyond the joint 15, and terminates short of the rim 13 of the burner in a serrated edge 16. The cap is provided with a perforated heat-conducting fin 17 which extends down wardly into the chamber 11 of the burner and serves as a guide for the cap.

The oil to be burned in the heater is conducted to the chamber 11 of the burner through an oil supply pipe 18, enters the chamber through an orifice sleeve 19, and passes beneath the notched edge of an inverted pressure-sealing cup 20 in reaching the upper portion of the chamber.

The burner 10 is mounted on the upper margin 21 of a tubular support 22, and the lower margin23 of the support rests on an annular base plate 24: which is adapted to be cemented or otherwise secured in the bottom of the fire-box. The plate 24 is preferably formed in two complementary sections 25 and 26in order that it may be passed, one section at atime, through the small door of the fire-box when the heater is being installed therein.

A drip pan 27 is positioned within the support 22 directly below the burner 10. The pan is adapted to catch any oil which may drip through the air-intake apertures 28 in the web 12 of the burner, and is connected with an over-flow pipe 29 which will conduct such oil, after it reaches a certain level in the pan, to a receptacle 30. The receptacle is suspended from one end of an oppositely counter-weighted lever 31, and the lever is provided with a latch 32 which hooks under a lip 33 on another lever 34 and holds the same from moving downwardly under the influence of a weight 35, which downward movement operates to shut off a valve 36 in the oil supply pipe 18 leading to the chamber 11 in the burner. After a certain amount of oil has flow d into h receptacle from the drip pan, the weight of the oil in the receptacle will swing the adjacent end of the lever 31 downwardly, the latch 32 will move-from under the lip 33 on the lever 34, and the weighted end of the lever 34 will swing downwardly and shut off further flow of oil through the pipe 18 to the chamber.

A vapor-generating box 37 is positioned in the furnace in proximity to the burner 10. The box is adapted to contain water to about the level 38, and the heat from the burner is intended to vaporize the water. The water vapor thus generated is conducted from the box through a pipe 39., and the pipe, after passing through an opening in the support 22 discharges the vapor into the space below the air-intake apertures in the burner. The capacity of the box 37 is necessarily small because of its location within the furnace, and is therefore connected with a reserve tank 40 by means of a pipe 41.

The operation of the heater is as follows:

To start the heater, the weighted end of the lever 34 is raised into a position where the lip '33 on the same is held by the latch '32 on the lever 31, which movement of the lever 34 opens the valve 36 in the oil supply pipe 18 and permits oil to fill the chamber 11 in the burner 10. The spreader cap 14 closes the top of the chamber 11 in such a way as to prevent any substantial flow of oil therefrom when the oil reaches the level of the oint 15, but does not permit a thinfilm-like flow through the joint, which oil will drip through the air intake apertures 28 and collect in the pan 27 therebelow.

The oil in the pan 27 is then ignited in any suitable manner, access being had to. the same through a conveniently located opening 42 in the side of the support 22.

The flames from the oil in the pan 27 serve to heat the bottom of the burner 10 and ignite the thin film of oil seeping from the joint 15 between the cap and the. burnen As the burner and the spreader cap become heated, the oil in the chamber 11 heats and commences to vaporize, building up a pressure in the chamber. The gradually increasing pressure of the oil vapor'in the chamber acts to lift the cap slightly and what was at first a thin film-like flow of oil atthe joint 15 changes into a strong flat jet of oil vapor which radiates evenly in all directions from the chamber-11.

The annular jet of oil vapor described meets the air which is flowing upwardly through the apertures '28 in the web 12 from the opening in the base plate, and an extremely hot combustion is consequently had between the oil vapor and the air in the annular space about the serrated edge 16 of the spreader cap 14, the flames shooting upwardly in even distribution about the cap. As soon as the box 37 becomes heated, the water vapor generated therein is discharged from the pipe 39 into the rising column of air below the web of the burner, and aids materially in the combustion of the oil vapor.

The heater-unlike many of the oil heaters adapted for use in domestic heating plantsis intended to be continuous as distinguished from intermittent in its operation, and does not require a pilot light. The heat delivered from the heater is regulated entirely by variations in the flow ofoil through the oil supply I pipe 18, and such flow may be automatically varied by a suitable thermostat control 43 to conform with changing temperature con- ,ditions.

In Fig. 10 is shown a slightly modified form of the heater. The joint 15 between the burner 12 and the cap 14 is inclined upwardly and outwardly, and the under surface of the cap 14 is inclined first upwardly and outwardly at 44 and then downwardly and outwardly in the reverse direction at 45. The edge 16 of the cap is inclined upwardly and inwardly, and the rim 13 of the burner is correspondingly inclined. This modified shaping of the surfaces of the cap and burner with which the oil vapor contacts, serves to direct the annular jet of vapor outwardly at an upward inclination into contact with the surface 45 of the cap, andthat surface deflects the burning jet and upwardly rising air against the inner surface of the'rim 13', whichsurface in turn directs the flame from the heater upwardly and inwardly above the cap 14. The resulting constriction of the flame above the burner, together with the 1 manner in which the air and oil vapor are brought together by the shaping of the burner and cap, has the effect of lessoning the smoke from the heater, and in creasing the whiteness of the flame, The joint 15 may be provided with a number of very small radiating grooves 46, which grooves serve to decrease the operating pressure required by the weight of the cap.

WVhile the heater has been described herein as being particularly applicable to domestic heating plants, supplanting the ordinary coal fire in the fire-box, it will be appreciated that the heater may be used for a good many other purposes.

1. In an oil heater, a burner having a perforated air-intake web, a pipe for con ducting oil to the burner,a tubular support for the burner which is closed at its upper end by the web of the burner, a pan within the support below the burner for initially heating the burner when oil in the pan is ignited, a water box at one side of the support, and a pipe for feeding water vapor from the boxinto the space between the burner and the pan.

2;. In an oil heater, a burnerhaving a central chamber, a perforatedair-intake web outwardly of the chamber and an upwardly extending flange outwardly of the web, means for conducting oil to the chamber, and a substantially flat plate yieldably seated on the burner over the chamber with the edge of the plate in proximity to the flange, the op posed portions of the plate and the flange being so shaped as to cause the flame from the oil vapor generated in the chamber to rise therebetween above the heater in an upwardly converging cone.

8. In an oil heater, a burner having a chamber and a perforated air-intake web surrounding the same, means for conducting oil to the chamber, and a cap yieldably seated on the burner over the chamber with the edge of the cap projecting beyond the chamber out over the web.

4. In'an oil heater, a perforated, annulus provided at its inner perphery with an up wardly opening chamber and at its outer periphery with an upwardly extending flange, means for conducting oil to the chamber, and a substantially flat plate yieldably seated on the burner over the chamber with the edge of the plate in horizontally spaced relation to the edge of the flange.

5. In an oil heater, an oil chamber, an annular rim surrounding the chamber in concentric radially spaced relation thereto, a circular plate yieldably seated on the chamher and projecting radially a substantial disstance beyond the edge of the chamber into proximity with the rim to form a constricted annular passageway between the edge of the plate and the rim, means for conducting oil to the chamber, and means for conducting air and water vapor to the space surrounding the chamber beneath the plate.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JAMES H. BIRCH.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,737,911. Granted December 3, 1929, to

JAMES H. BIRCH.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 33, strike out the word "not"; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 14th day of January, A. D. 1930.

M. J. Moore, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

